Belle Chen

With a distinctive combination of piano melodies and evocative synths, pianist-composer Belle Chen's soundworld straddles acoustic and electronic realms. Having experimented with found sound in an extensive crowd-sourced project during the pandemic, and created classical dedications – such as Lullaby for Edward, a tribute to Edward Elgar – Chen's new album Ravel In The Forest is a compelling collection of original music with subtle references to woodland adventures and French impressionism. The 2023 recording – Chen's debut release via Platoon – sees the composer develop her love for immersive audio, invoking striking images and stirring the imagination through her playful pieces. Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Chen grew up in Australia and New Zealand before moving to the UK. She's just as influenced by travel and people as by her classical training, and her music spans multiple genres. In fact, it's difficult to pin-point Chen's style – surely the sign of an interesting artist – which adds a pinch of exciting, biting electronica to the lush, sometimes minimalist melodies, of post-classical pianism. Her performances are a feast for the senses, often combining visual and olfactory elements to enhance the musical engagement. Now based in London, Chen draws on emotional associations, rooting her work in time and place – as heard in her 2022 album Years of Pilgrimage. Like the French composer whose name is referenced in the new album Ravel In The Forest – Chen gives importance to the space between notes. 'I like how impressionism provides just enough information,' she says, 'My music implies; I like to leave room for the audience to fill in their own lines.' For Ravel In The Forest – the title also suggests 'ravel', hinting at the bringing together of material – Chen eschewed the use of field recordings, instead making sometimes surreal suggestions of the flora and fauna. There's no clarinet recreating a literal cuckoo (as can be heard in Mahler's first symphony) or oboe as duck (like Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf); instead, a busy piano flutter hints at a dragonfly, a chirruping synth line is a bird. 'I'm curious about the potential of instruments,' reflects Chen. 'I have an intention and then transfer it to sound.' As a multi-instrumentalist, Chen uses a variety of tools to create her desired effects, including felt piano – an upright that has additional material to dampen the action, creating a softer, rounded tone. Other timbres, such as plucked strings, are explored in 2019 album Departure, which was recorded under her own label Eito Music and nominated for the Australian Music Prize in 2020. The sheet music for Departure – including explanations of the prepared piano techniques (the term used to describe incorporating extra elements to change the traditional piano sound) such as adding reusable putty and a metal screw to evoke the timbre of Javanese Gamelan – was published alongside the album. There is an international flavour to Chen's compositions, which sometimes includes reimaginations of folk music, such as the haunting Japanese melody, Sakura, Sakura, the Mongolian tune Baater Tsogtyn Nagats, and Shui (Water), after the Taiwanese Dark Sky. Chen performs across the globe, with performance highlights including the Royal Albert Hall’s Steinway Series, Milano Piano City Midnight Main Stage, Her Majesty’s Theatre Adelaide, Kulturhuset Najaden Concert Hall and the National Theatre of Korea. Chen was the first Australian artist to officially showcase at Classical:NEXT, where she performed in 2018. Her recent commissions and syncs include those for BBC Sounds, BBC Concert Orchestra, Gucci Archive, London Fashion Week, Shanghai Fashion Week, and The Joffrey Ballet Chicago. Recognised as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, Belle Chen is a Yamaha artist.